1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a process for production of titanium alloy, and in particular, relates to a process for production of Ti—Al alloy using an intermetallic compound of titanium-aluminum.
2. Background Art
Recently, titanium materials have been used not only for airplanes but also for general uses. In particular, titanium alloys are widely used in fields in which corrosion resistance or weight reduction is required.
However, titanium alloys are not widely used because they are expensive compared to other materials. In particular, although Ti-6 wt % Al-4 wt % V alloy exhibits superior strength and corrosion resistance, it has not found wide consumer use due to its high cost.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 158955/92, a technique in which Ti-6 wt % Al-4 wt % V alloy having a low level impurities is produced at low cost by adding an excess amount of pure Al with respect to the desired composition to titanium alloy scrap containing Al and melting the material by EB (electron beam) melting is disclosed. However, in this technique, since an excess amount of Al is added due to vaporization of Al in the EB melting process, the amount of vaporized Al varies and control of the alloy composition is difficult. Furthermore, since Al is added in controlling the Al content, pure Al as a raw material must be formed into briquettes to weigh the amount of added Al, whereby producing cost may be increased.
In addition, demand for titanium material for a target is recently increasing as electric materials are widely used. However, efficient recycling methods for spent target material are unknown.